


querencia

by kashuumitsus



Series: bokuaka parents au [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bokuto and Akaashi adopt kids Hinata and Tsukki, Domestic Fluff, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Married Life, Minor Kuroo Tetsurou/Oikawa Tooru, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24808666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kashuumitsus/pseuds/kashuumitsus
Summary: (n.) a place from which one's strength is drawn, where one feels at home, the place where you are your most authentic self"Keiji is on the brink of falling asleep when something (or more accurately, someone) pokes his back. He turns around carefully so he doesn’t jostle Shouyou. Kei is standing next to him, his own stuffed animal - a Brachiosaurus, his favorite dino - in his hand.“What’s the matter, Kei-chan?”Kei hesitates a bit before he answers. “Shou-chan wasn’t in his bed and I don’t want to sleep alone. Can I sleep here too?”"aka the fic where Bokuto and Akaashi are married and they raise Shouyo and Kei
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Series: bokuaka parents au [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1228685
Comments: 4
Kudos: 170





	1. Chapter 1

In the middle of the night, the Akaashi-Bokuto household is usually silent, save for the light snores coming from the masters’ bedroom.

Keiji is sleeping soundly next to Koutarou, his right arm thrown over the other as he buries his face in Koutarou’s neck.

Suddenly, a wail cuts through the silence, rousing Keiji from his sleep. He’s always been a light sleeper, which was both a curse and a blessing when the kids were smaller. He groans, and turns onto his back. It seems like Shouyou woke up yet again. He’s been like this in the last few days, and both Keiji and Koutarou can hazard a guess why. They think it’s most likely nightmares, but Shouyou hasn’t said anything, and they haven’t figured out the reason of the nightmares if that’s the case.

At least Kei is sleeping through the nights, despite Shouyou waking up and crying. If Keiji had to deal with the other toddler he’d most likely break down crying too. Waking Koutarou up would be A: absolutely pointless and B: impossible, since he’d sleep through a war. Probably. Keiji doesn’t want to find out.He rubs his eyes as he throws back the covers to slip out of bed. Yawning, he shuffles into the children’s room, still only half awake.

He sits down on Shouyou’s bed, and the child immediately clambers into his lap. Keiji starts rubbing his back. “Hey, Shou-chan, what’s wrong?”

Shouyou just continues to cry, and holds Keiji’s shirt tightly in his tiny fists. He hiccups a few times before he calms down enough to answer. “I-I had a bad dream!”

Keiji hugs him. He (and Koutarou) had a feeling that it was because of nightmares that he woke up every night.

“Do you want to sleep with Dad and me?”

Shouyou just nods frantically, and grabs the stuffed calico cat that he got from Kuroo for his birthday that year. He’d been absolutely attached to that cat ever since, not going anywhere without it. Not even the playground, no matter how many times they’ve told him that it will get dirty.

Keiji picks Shouyou up, and walks back to the bedroom. He puts Shouyou next to Koutarou, and the boy immediately snuggles up to his husband. If Keiji’s honest, he’s never seen anything cuter before.

He lays down himself, and scoots next to Shouyou. The child’s already asleep, clutching the stuffed cat to himself. 

Keiji is on the brink of falling asleep when something (or more accurately,  _ someone _ ) pokes his back. He turns around carefully so he doesn’t jostle Shouyou. Kei is standing next to him, his own stuffed animal - a Brachiosaurus, his favorite dino - in his hand.

“What’s the matter, Kei-chan?”

Kei hesitates a bit before he answers. “Shou-chan wasn’t in his bed and I don’t want to sleep alone. Can I sleep here too?”

Keiji smiles. “Of course you can. C’mon, let’s get you up here.”

Kei climbs onto the bed, and then climbs over Keiji so that he’s between Shouyou and Keiji. Keiji covers the kids with his blanket, and now, with his whole family in one place, he falls into a peaceful slumber.

  
  


The next day Koutarou wakes up only to find a little foot in his face. He doesn’t know how and when that foot (or the owner of the foot) got into the bed. He carefully pries the foot away from his face, and sits up.

Looking at the bed, he can see his little family bundled up in the covers. Shouyou and Kei are resting their heads on Keiji’s arm, their limbs all over the place. Koutarou’s heart melts at the sight of them.

He never imagined that he’d have such a cute family at the age of 29, with two amazing kids and the man of his life. He’s truly lucky, if he says so himself.

He gets up, and puts on his running gear. It has been a habit of his since high school, to go on a run every morning. Keiji used joined him, but not since they had the kids. Somebody has to watch them, after all. 

Before he goes, he presses a kiss to each of their heads, then heads out. 

After a good hour of running, he returns home with some groceries, because they were out of rice and milk. He has a quick shower, because despite being early morning, summers in Tokyo are famous for their scorching heat. 

He starts on breakfast, so the others don’t have to wait before they can eat. He makes pancakes for Shouyou and himself, and eggs for Kei and Keiji. When he’s done, he cuts Kei’s eggs into star shape, otherwise Kei would refuse to eat it.

He sets the table before he goes to the bedroom to wake up his boys. They’re almost in the same position as Koutarou left them, except Shouyou and Kei are both spread out like starfish, Kei’s stuffed dino hanging off the bed as he holds onto it. He walks up to the kids, and starts to wake them up.

“Hey, Shou-chan, Kei-chan, breakfast is ready,” he says softly, and he watches silently as they blink their eyes open. 

Shouyou is a bundle of energy as soon as he wakes up, but Kei is usually grumpy and silent for at least half an hour after waking up. He’s like Keiji, who communicates in grumps and nods until he’s had a coffee. Koutarou doesn’t mind, both he and Shouyou make up for it with their chattering.

“Dad! Mornin’! What’s for breakfast? Did you make pancakes? Do we have juice to drink? Can-” Shouyou starts asking questions at a rapid speed as soon as he sits up, and Koutarou laughs at his antics. Meanwhile Kei’s still laying on his back, rubbing his eyes.

“Morning, Shou-chan! I did make pancakes, and I made eggs for Kei and Papa, because you know they don’t really like pancakes for breakfast. We have orange and apple juice, so knock yourself out.”

Shouyou immediately springs up, and dashes to the kitchen.

“Don’t run!” Koutarou shouts after him, but it’s probably useless. Kei begrudgingly gets up, and clutching his stuffed dino to his chest he leaves for the kitchen too.

This leaves Koutarou with a still half asleep Keiji. He climbs onto the bed, and crawls next to Keiji. He plops down next to him, buries his face in his neck and starts imitating the sound of the birds they were teased to have resemblance to: soft hoots of owls. It has never failed to wake Keiji up with a smile.Koutarou loves Keiji’s smile, always has, but his favorite smile is the sleepy one. The one that comes slowly and unconsciously to his lips. 

Keiji soon starts to giggle at the tickling feeling, and Koutarou pulls away from him.

“Good morning, Keiji,” he says with a smile, and Keiji pulls him back for a kiss.

After breaking the kiss, Keiji looks at him with a soft smile curling in the corners of his lips. “Good morning, Kou,” he says. “Do you think we still have the kitchen in one piece?”

That’s when Koutarou remembers that the kids are out in the kitchen without supervision. He hopes that Shouyou hasn’t drowned everything in syrup, and that Kei doesn’t have mayo all over the place. They get out of the bed and hand in hand they walk to the kitchen, where Shouyou and Kei are already seated at the table. 

In front of Shouyou, there's a stack of pancakes, and he's currently trying to pour some syrup on them. Keiji lets go of his hand, and jumps to Shouyou.

“Shou-chan, I think that's enough syrup,” he says, gently taking the bottle from him. Shouyou pouts, quite adorably in Koutarou’s opinion, but doesn't put up a fight.

Meanwhile Kei is just sitting there with his hands crossed, not touching his food.

“Kei-chan, what's wrong?”

“The star is crooked, I don't wanna eat it,” he mumbles.

Keiji just heaves a sigh. Kei’s always been a picky eater. He won’t eat his breakfast unless it’s star-shaped, and it’s impossible to get him to eat fruit, not to mention he never eats his carrots. And because Shou likes to imitate him, he doesn’t eat his carrots either. 

While Keiji is cutting the eggs into a more acceptable shape that Kei approves of, Koutarou hands the syrup back to Shouyou, who has been stretching for it for minutes now. Keiji looks at him disapprovingly when he notices that Shouyou has the bottle back in his hands.

“Kou, I took the syrup away from Shou-chan because he doesn’t need anymore sugar, he’s energetic enough. Speaking of sugar, where’s the apple?”

Koutarou looks at him sheepishly. “We’re kinda out of fruits. But we have juices, that should do it!”

“Honey, no, they need fruits. Not juices full of sugar.”

An idea pops into Koutarou’s head. “Oh, honey’s a good idea, do you want some Shou-chan?”

From the corners of his eyes, he can see Keiji pinching the bridge of his nose when Shouyou answers with an enthusiastic yes.

After breakfast, Keiji washes the dishes while Koutarou chases after Shouyou. The kid is on sugar high from all the syrup (and honey, because Koutarou is an incorrigible sweet-tooth enabler) he consumed with his pancakes, running around the house - despite all their warnings  _ not to _ \- screaming ‘I am Spider-Man!’ from the top of his tiny lungs and it serves Koutarou right. He should’ve thought about this before.

Kei is just watching from the sidelines, but when Shouyou stops next to him and whispers something in his ears, he grins at Shouyou conspiratorially. Shouyou starts running again, and when Koutarou passes Kei, he starts running after his husband with a warcry.

So now there are three children running around, because it seems like Koutarou has forgotten that he should be stopping the kids from running around. When he hears a thump from somewhere upstairs, he’s had enough. He dries his hands in the kitchen towel, and heads towards the stairs. 

He arrives just in time to see his husband and kids race down the stairs. He puts his hands on his hips, and starts tapping with his feet. When his little family sees him, they stop in their tracks.

“Keiji, I swear-” Koutarou starts to fumble, but his sentence is cut short by Keiji putting up his hand.

“I don’t want to hear it, Kou. How could you guys…” he shakes his head, and on his boys’ faces there’s immense guilt, so Keiji finishes his sentence. “Do this without me?”

He starts running after Kei, and the blond boy shrieks as he runs away from him. This spurs both Shouyou and Koutarou into movement, and now there’s an all out tag war in the house. 

At some point, Kei and Shouyou run out into the garden, and by the time both Keiji and Koutarou reach the garden, they’re both out of breath. They may have kept up with running, but what these kids do is out of this world. How in hell can they run so much? Where do they even get the energy to run this much? Shouyou, he understands, because the boy is literally a bundle of sunshine and energy, especially if he drowns his pancakes in syrup and honey in the morning. But Kei is usually less energetic and doesn’t eat even the quarter of sugar Shouyou does.

“Papa, Dad, you’re slow!” Kei says with a radiant smile.

Keiji smiles at him. “We are, aren’t we? Now let’s get you boys back inside, you’re still in your pajamas,” he says, and ushers them into the house.

Since it’s Sunday, and neither Keiji nor Koutarou needs to go to work, they spend the day lazing around the house.Their big lump of a dog, an enormous Old English Shepherd named Ren, finally emerges from his sleeping place from the garage and decides to grace them with his presence. While he isn’t an old dog, he definitely likes his peace in the mornings. With two children running around, peace is something that is usually only achieved at night, or when someone isolated themselves. 

Shouyou and Kei notice the dog as soon as he trots inside, and run to him. Ren loves the two children. He lets them do anything. If they want to use him as a pillow, he lays down and won’t move. There were several occasions where Keiji and Koutarou came into the living room just to see the three of them fast asleep, curled up on the floor while a movie played on the TV.

If they want to sit on his back, he lets them, though only when he’s laying down. He could probably lift the two kids, but Keiji won’t let him. It’s because one, he’s afraid Shouyou and Kei will fall down, and two, because he doesn’t want anything to happen to Ren. He’s a dog, not a pony.

“Ren!” Shouyou says, and hugs the dog. 

Kei looks at them with a pout. “I want to hug Ren too, Shou-chan, lemme!”

Since Shouyou doesn’t move, Kei starts pushing him away from the dog. But Shouyou is stubborn and just holds onto Ren tighter. 

“No, Shou-chan, move!” Kei insists, and the jostle continues. 

Keiji steps in. “Shou-chan, let Kei-chan hug Ren.”

Shouyou starts to pout, but lets go of the dog. Kei immediately hugs him, and nuzzles his face into the dog’s fur.

They spend the rest of the morning in the living room, with Shouyou and Kei drawing while Koutarou and Keiji talk between themselves. 

After a while, Shouyou shows his drawing to his parents. “Papa, Dad, look! It’s Kei-chan and me with Papa and Dad and Ren!”

Sure enough, there are four stick figures on the paper, two smaller and two bigger. One of the smaller ones has bright orange hair scribbled on its head, while the other has yellow hair. One of the bigger ones has spiked black and white hair, and the other has a mess of black lines as hair. The last figure on the paper is a grey circle with four sticks as legs, clearly trying to depict the dog. 

Keiji takes it from him. “Shou-chan, it’s really pretty!”

Shouyou beams under the praise. Truth be told, Keiji thinks that everything the kids make is amazing, but they’re no Picassos. What matters the most to Keiji is that they make these drawings and paintings with all the love they have, and all they want to do is make them happy. They do. They always do. He has a drawer in his desk that’s full of drawings and paintings – of their little family, of various animals, of various events they took the kids to. A few of the drawings make it onto the fridge, held up by various colorful magnets. Sometimes, they change the drawings on the fridge, and when Kuroo visits them, he never fails to ask about them. That sets off the kids every time, and Kuroo listens to them practically gush about the pieces. 

Koutarou takes a look at the drawing as well, and his mouth forms an o. “Wow, Shou-chan, it is pretty good!”

He sweeps Shouyou off his feet, and blows a raspberry on his stomach. Since Shouyou is really ticklish, he immediately starts to laugh. “Dad, no, stop!” he shrieks.

Kei is so immersed in drawing that he doesn’t even bat an eyelash at all the commotion happening. Keiji admires his ability to focus on things so much. Shouyou can’t focus on things as much as Kei can, but that probably has to do with his energetic and restless self.

Keiji glances at the clock. It reads 11.39 am, which means they should start preparing lunch soon. “Kou, we should start lunch soon.”

He says we, but Keiji can’t cook to save his life. Well, he can cook scrambled eggs and some instant stuff, but that’s it. He wonders if he would’ve survived university without Koutarou.

Koutarou nods, and stands up, with Shouyou still in his arms. “Hey, Shou-chan, wanna help me prepare lunch?”

Shouyou gets really excited by the offer, and starts bouncing in Koutarou’s arms. “Yes, yes, yes!”   
  


  
After lunch, they try to put the kids into bed for a quick nap. As four years old children, they have no desire to go to bed.   
“Papa, I don’t wanna sleep!” Shouyou stomps, with his hands crossed.    
Keiji’s having none of it. “Shou-chan, you need to take a nap. if you go to bed, we can go to the playground when you wake up.”

Shouyou doesn’t know it, but they would have gone to the playground anyways. They need to take Ren out for a walk too, the dog hasn’t been out on a walk since Thursday. Both Koutarou and he was too occupied with work and the kids, and while it’s true that they have a garden, it’s not big enough for the dog.

Shouyou begrudgingly heads to bed, but now it’s Kei who refuses to sleep.

“Please, Kei-chan, go and sleep for a little while,” Keiji all but begs him, but the child still refuses.

That’s when Koutarou sweeps into the room, like he sensed that Keiji has some difficulty getting the little rascals into bed. “Kei-chan, I’ll read you a story with dinos in it, but you have to go to sleep. Deal?”

Kei nods, and Koutarou sits down on his bed with a book in his lap. Keiji watches from the door with fondness. Koutarou is great story teller, and he knows exactly what kinds of tones he should use to get the effect he wants to. Maybe it comes unconsciously to him, or he’s aware of it, but it doesn’t deny the fact that Kei is out like a light five minutes into the story.

Koutarou gently stands up from the bed, and tiptoes towards Keiji. They close the door carefully, and walk downstairs, hand in hand.

When they’re seated on the couch, Koutarou kisses Keiji properly for the first time since waking up. It starts out with slow, soft pecks on the lips, but Keiji finds himself wanting more and more and more. So he pulls Koutarou closer, his left hand pulling Koutarou’s head closer and closer, as close as it’s physically possible, while his right hand roams over the steely muscles of his arm. 

Koutarou breaks the kiss for some air. “Keiji…”

Keiji sighs, because he knows what Koutarou is going to say. “I know, it’s just we haven’t really had time to do anything in the last few weeks and I’m getting needy. We really need to get the kids out of the house soon for at least a night and lock ourselves into the bedroom.”

Koutarou chuckles. “Say, what if we get Kuroo to babysit for us this Friday and we have a date at a nice restaurant and then come home?”

“Perfect.” Keiji smiles at him, and pecks the tip of Koutarou’s nose. 

They lay down, and Koutarou holds Keiji in his arms. Keiji lays his head on Koutarou’s chest, and absentmindedly draws shapes on his arms. 

Soon, both of them drift off into light sleep, and Keiji only wakes up when he hears tiny feet pattering down the stairs and hushed voices. 

“Kei-chan, where are Papa and Dad? I can’t hear them talking.”

“I don’t know. Let’s search for them!”

Keiji wakes Koutarou. “Kou, the kids are up.”

“Five more minutes,” he mumbles. 

Keiji huffs a laugh. “I don’t think we have that much time,” he whispers. 

He’s right, because soon Kei spots them on the couch. They tiptoe to the back of the couch, and peer over it, as Keiji can see through his barely opened eyes. 

“Hey, Shou-chan, let’s wake them up,” Kei whispers, and Keiji has to hide a smile, so he won’t give themselves away. He knows Koutarou’s awake now too, because he snorts. Luckily it can pass as a loud snore. 

The pitter-patter of tiny feet hitting the floor is getting closer, and Keiji can feel the kids’ presence beside them.

“One, two-“ Kei starts to count in a hushed tone, but he’s cut off by Keiji. “Three!” Keiji shouts, and the kids run off, laughing and shrieking. 

Under him, Koutarou is laughing, with that deep, rumbling laugh of his, and Keiji can feel it in his own chest as well. Keiji leans his head on Koutarou’s chest as he’s laughing.

“We should get up,” he mumbles into his husband’s chest after calming down.

He really doesn’t want to get up, even though they really, really should. It’s just too comfortable, laying on his husband and being held by him. However, the kids will get fussy if they don’t have their afternoon snack that they always do after their nap, and not to mention Shouyou will start bouncing off the walls if they don’t go to the playground. The little guy has way too much energy, and if he isn’t tired to the bone, he won’t fall asleep at night, and neither of them want that.

As if on cue, Shouyou peeks over the edge of the couch, his red hair poking out in all existing directions.

“Papa, I’m hungry.”

Keiji gets up, and extends a hand to Koutarou as well. Koutarou accepts it, and Keiji pulls him up. They walk to the kitchen, where Kei is already seated at the table, awaiting the afternoon snack. Shouyou climbs up onto the chair next to him.

“Alright kiddos, what do you want today?” Koutarou asks them, taking two plates out of the cabinet.

Kei’s eyes light up. “Bread and strawberry jam,” he says, excited that he can eat one of his favorites. Kei loves strawberries, in every shape and form. He’s not really one for sweets and sweet things in general, but anything with strawberry in it is an exception. If Keiji would let him, he’d eat strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“I wanna bread and ham and cheese! Lots of cheese!” Shouyou exclaims, throwing his hands up to show just how much cheese he wants.

Keiji chuckles at his exclamation, and goes to the counter to help Koutarou. After the kids are satisfied, they send them to their room to dress up. Keiji goes with them to oversee their choices and to make sure they don’t overdress. Shouyou has a tendency to put on sweaters even if it’s really not necessary.

When they’re all dressed, Koutarou gets Ren’s leash from the genkan, and attaches it to the collar of the dog, who’s wagging his tail in excitement.

“Ren, calm down,” Koutarou says to the dog, but it’s useless, he’s already trying to pull Koutarou out of the door.

Keiji wrestles Shouyou into his shoes, the kid fidgeting and itching to go to the playground. As soon as the shoes are on his feet, he’s out of the door. Kei is the same way, just a tad much more easier to get him to put his shoes on.

Before Keiji could lock the door, Shouyou rushes back. “Papa, Papa, we can’t leave Michi home!”

Michi is Shouyou’s stuffed calico cat, and he won’t go anywhere without it. Keiji sighs, because he knows the boy won’t budge on taking it with him. They tried to reason with him several times, but they never succeeded.

When all of them are out of the house, finally this time, Keiji locks the door and takes Kei’s hands, while Koutarou holds Shouyou’s in his free hand. While the playground isn’t far from their house and they live in a peaceful neighborhood, Keiji doesn’t want the kids wandering off.

He’s always afraid something will happen to them, even if he’s there with them. Koutarou thinks he’s being overprotective, but he can’t help it. He doesn’t want any harm to come them, especially not after all the things they went through to actually have the children with them.

When they arrive to the playground, Koutarou lets Ren off the leash, and the dog takes off running, with Shouyou in tow, as soon as he presses the stuffed cat into Koutarou’s hand. Seeing his brother run off, Kei lets go of Keiji’s hand as well, running after Shouyou.

“Shou-chan, wait for me!”

Keiji walks over to Koutarou, and takes his hand in his own. Koutarou looks at him with a smile on his face.

“C’mon, Kou, let’s sit down. God knows Shouyou will be running around for an hour at least,” Keiji says, and pulls Koutarou to the closest bench.

They watch over the kids, Keiji leaning into Koutarou. Ren brings a stick to them, so Koutarou (and sometimes Keiji) throw it for him. 

Now that they finished playing tag, Shouyou is on the monkey bars, dangling from it upside down, giving both of them a heart attack. Koutarou rushes over, so even if Shouyou somehow falls down, he can catch him. Kei is in the sandbox, making what seems like a complicated sandcastle.

After a while Shouyou joins Kei, and together they make another sandcastle. Keiji can see that the kids are getting tired, they have been playing for hours now, after all. 

Keiji looks at his watch, and it says that it’s almost half past 6, and the kids still have to eat dinner and have a bath. While these things don’t take up too much time, the kids like to watch a cartoon before bed. It’s usually Tom and Jerry or Scooby-Doo, or something like this. 

“Shou-chan, Kei-chan, come on, we’re heading home,” he tells them, and they leave the sandbox without any complaints. 

Koutarou whistles for Ren, and the dog comes running back to them. Koutarou hands Michi back to Shouyou, who immediately clings to it. 

When Ren is on the leash, Keiji takes Shouyou’s hand, and Koutarou takes Kei’s. In the setting sun, they walk back home on the silent streets.

***

Tetsurou is lounging on the couch, scrolling away on his phone while he’s waiting for his little guests for tonight when there’s knocking on the front door. He smiles, and gets up to open the door. 

“Tetsu-nii!” comes the shout as soon as he opens the door, and two little bodies slam into his legs.

He ruffles their hair with a fond smile. “Hey there Kei-chan, Shou-chan.”

“You’re not even greeting your best friend? I’m hurt, Tetsu,” Bokuto says, with a very forced pout, because it’s starting to morph into a smile. Well not Bokuto anymore, because when his friends married, Bokuto took Akaashi’s name, so technically he’s an Akaashi now, but Tetsurou still has a hard time thinking of him as an Akaashi.

Tetsurou looks around. “Can’t see Kenma here, so I can’t greet him.”

“Kenma’s here?!” asks Shouyou, and looks up at Tetsurou with sparkling eyes. Akaashi shoots him a reproachful look, and Tetsurou gulps. He should’ve thought about mentioning Kenma in front of Shouyou.

The kid loves his best friend, and Kenma, who was never really good with kids, especially loud ones, has taken to the child really quickly.

Tetsurou looks down at him apologetically. “Sorry, kiddo, he has a project that needs to be done by Monday, so he’s not here.” 

“Speaking of missing people, where’s your boyfriend? I thought he’d be here.”

Tetsurou scratches the back of his neck. “Ah, he’s away on a business trip until Tuesday.”

“Shame, I would’ve liked to at least greet him. Well, there’s still next time.” Bokuto shrugs. 

“There is,” he replies. “Come on in guys, you don’t have to stand in the door.”

Akaashi shakes his head. “No, we really can’t stay for long, the reservation is for 7pm, and we have…” he trails off to look at his watch. “30 minutes to get there and we have to consider there’s gonna be traffic.”

“Alright,” Tetsurou nods.

“Well, we’re off then. They have to be in bed at 10pm at latest, Kei won’t eat breakfast if it’s not star-shaped, and please don’t give Shouyou too much sugar, otherwise-” Akaashi rambles, but Tetsurou cuts him off.

“‘Kaashi, I know, we’ve had sleepovers before. Just go and enjoy your night.” He shoos them out the door, but not before they can say goodbye to the children.

“Oh don’t worry, we will enjoy tonight,” Akaashi says, looking back at him over his shoulder with a smirk. Tetsurou shakes his head with a smile. Akaashi can be a menace if he wants to be.

Once they’re gone, Tetsurou locks the door and looks at the kids. “Alright, so what should we do tonight?”

“Let’s watch a movie!” Shouyou suggests, and Kei nods frantically, agreeing with him.

Tetsurou relents with a sigh. “Fine, but we have to have dinner too.” An idea pops into Tetsurou’s head. “What do you say we have a picnic in the living room?”

“Yes!” Shouyou and Kei shout in unison, and they run into the living room. 

Tetsurou follows after them with their overnight bag, and he puts that into the guest room. His cat, Kohaku, an orange tabby, escapes from the room as soon as he opens the door. He locked her into the room because she has a tendency to run out of the apartment whenever the front door is open, and he really doesn’t want to look for her in the building.

“Kohaku!” Kei exclaims, and by the time Tetsurou is out of the room, the cat is purring in Kei’s lap.

He snaps a picture and sends it to Tooru with the caption ‘look, Kei-chan claimed the cat’. The answer comes immediately, a pouting Tooru and a caption that says ‘cute, but that’s my cat, don’t let him steal her!!!!’. He snickers, and Shouyou looks up at him.

“Tetsu-nii, what’s so funny? I wanna know too!”

He smiles at the kid. “Your uncle Tooru thinks Kei-chan will steal his cat.”

Kei looks at him with his brows knit together in confusion. “But I don’t want to steal Kohaku from Tooru-nii.”

Tetsurou laughs, and ruffles his hair. “I know kiddo, but he doesn’t.” Probably Tooru knows that Kei wouldn’t even try to steal the cat, and even if he could, Akaashi would bring her back in an hour at most, because Bokuto is allergic to them.

“Can we talk to Tooru-nii?” Shouyou asks, kneeling on the couch, facing Tetsurou.

“I can’t see why not.” He shrugs. “But we’re eating first. Who wants to help me?”

Both of the kids spring up, Kohaku thrown off of Kei’s lap with a mewl, and they run into the kitchen. Tetsurou doesn’t even try to stop them, just goes after them, shaking his head with a fond smile. He tells them to wash their hands in the sink, and gives both of them some vegetables to wash.

He quickly prepares the washed vegetables, and throws them into a pan. He gets the eggs out of the fridge, beats them, and once the vegetables are properly fried, he pours it into the pan.

Kei stretches next to him to have a look at the pan. “Tetsu-nii, what’s that?”

“Scrambled eggs with vegetables. Haven’t you had this before?”

Kei shakes his head. “Dad never made it for us before.” 

“Well, no problem, you can try it now. Get the tablecloth from the third drawer, and then lay it down on the ground in the living room with Shou-chan, okay?”

Kei nods, and grabs the tablecloth, then with his other hand he grabs Shouyou’s hand and pulls him into the living room. Tetsurou finishes the dish, and puts it on three plates. 

“Kei-chan, Shou-chan, come and get the plate, I can’t carry all three of them, even though I’d like to,” he calls out for them. The kids hurry into the kitchen, and take the plates with wobbling hands.

Once they’re seated on the floor, the tablecloth in front of them, Tetsurou switches the TV on. “I don’t have a lot of cartoons, but how about Howl’s Moving Castle?”

They both agree, and Tetsurou puts the DVD into the player. They munch on the food in comfortable silence as the movie plays out on the screen. 

Not long after they finish their dinners, both Shouyou and Kei starts to get bored by the film, and start to fidget. Tetsurou gathers the plates and the tablecloth, and puts them away in the kitchen, while he’s thinking of something to do with the children. That’s when he remembers that he has a box of legos lying around somewhere. 

When he finds it, he takes it back to the living room, and the children basically throw themselves into the box. In the next hour or so, only the chattering of the kids and the clinking of the legos can be heard, while Tetsurou lays on his back, Kohaku laying on his chest as he texts with Tooru. 

When he realizes that it's almost 9pm, he gathers the kids and ushers them into the bathroom. Half an hour later, they're both dressed in pajamas, the bathroom has several puddles on the floor, like it has been through a storm (in a way, it  _ has _ ) and Tetsurou himself is more wet than he would like to be.

Tetsurou puts the kids into the bed in the guest room, and tucks them in. His eyes catch on Shouyou’s stuffed cat, and his heart melts a little. Seeing the child cherish and carry that cat everywhere makes him extremely happy, and he doesn’t even know why. It’s probably because in a way, it shows him that the kids love him.

He tells them a bedtime story about demons and knights and mages and archers. Tells them how the the main character defeats the demons with the help of his companions and brings peace back to the kingdom. He doesn’t get to finish the story, because by the time he gets to the part with the final battle, the kids fall asleep.

The sun shines into Tetsurou’s eyes through the gap in the curtain, rousing him from his peaceful sleep. He’s about to fall back asleep, but he has the feeling that he’s being watched. He frowns, and opens his eyes, only to find his two little guests peeking over the edge of the bed.

“Tetsu-nii, we’re hungry,” Kei says when he sees that Tetsurou is awake.

He groans. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll start on breakfast.”

True to his word, he’s already putting some bread in the toaster by the time the kids seat themselves at the table. He starts the coffee machine as well, and when the toasts pop out, he quickly butters them, and cuts one into the shape of a star for Kei. He honestly can’t understand why the kid needs it to be star shaped, but who he is to argue with him? He’d rather not face Akaashi’s wrath because Kei didn’t eat.

After breakfast, he helps the kids get dressed, and watches them like a hawk while they’re brushing their teeth. He packs their bags, and soon Akaashi and Bokuto arrive.

“Dad, Papa! You’re here!” shouts Shouyou, and he flings himself into Akaashi’s arms, while Kei runs to Bokuto and hugs his legs.

“Hey there, champs! You didn’t give Tetsu a hard time, did you?” The children shake their heads.

Bokuto takes in the mess that is Tetsurou’s living room, which looks like a hurricane of legos went through it. He looks at the kids sternly. “You little rascals know you have to pack the legos away, right?”

Kei groans. “But Dad!”

Bokuto shakes his head. “No ‘but dad!’s. You played with it, you pack it up.”

“I’ll do it, you really don’t have to make them,” Tetsurou says, as they sit down on the couch.

They spend the next two hours talking. It has been a while since they could catch up, the hectic schedule of their work hours prevents them from meeting as much as they would like to. Meanwhile, the children play with the legos, building intricate buildings, or as intricate as the blocks let them.

When Akaashi decides that they really need to go home, Tetsurou gets the bags from the guest room. While they get ready, Tetsurou watches them fondly from the door of the living room. The way they move around each other feels like a dance to him, Akaashi and Bokuto finely attuned to each other and helping the kids put on their shoes. No words needed, just a feather-light touch here and there. Something aches in Tetsurou’s chest, a deep longing.

He snaps back into focus, when someone tugs on the hem of his shirt. Looking down, he sees Kei and Shouyou looking up at him. He crouches down, and holds out his hands, and the kids fly into his arms. He hugs them both goodbye, and with a smile, he lets them go. Hugging children feels like a cure sometimes.

When he straightens up, he sees both Akaashi and Bokuto looking at him with fond smiles. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?” Akaashi says, and goes after the children, who are already running down the stairs.

“We mean it. You can come visit us anytime, someone is almost always at home. All of us missed you,” Bokuto says, and hugs Tetsurou too.

Tetsurou has to keep his tears in check. “I missed you guys, too. And don’t worry, I will pop in from time to time.”

Bokuto pats him on the back one last time, and goes after his little family. Tetsurou closes the door after them, and the click of the lock echoes in the empty apartment.


	2. the unfinished chapter two & other ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the unfinished chapter two and the rest of the ideas i had for this fic

Keiji is flitting around the house, checking if everything has been packed. Towels, flip-flops, swimming trunks are in the suitcase, next to the sunscreen and the rest of the clothes. Pajamas are packed in as well, but Keiji still feels like they will leave something at home.

Koutarou is making them breakfast, so they could eat before they head out. The light smell of miso soup and cooking rice wafts through the house, and Keiji’s stomach grumbles. He’s been up for two hours now, and only he ate a toast in his hurry to make sure everything is packed and that the house is in acceptable shape before they leave for the next week. 

Going into the children’s room, he notes that the kids are playing in their underwear, which is how he left them half an hour ago. Not playing, because he told them to dress up. When they notice him, both of them look up at him sheepishly. 

“I thought I told you to get dressed half an hour ago.”

“You did, but you also said we should get some toys we could take with us,” Kei replies, and Keiji sighs. The kid has a sharp mind, and an even sharper tongue sometimes.

“I did, didn’t I?” he says, closing his eyes, knowing he made a mistake there. When he opens his eyes, he looks at them sternly. “But you have to get dressed right now, because breakfast is going to be ready soon.”

At the mention of breakfast, they both hurry to their wardrobe. Chuckling, Keiji leaves the room, and heads back downstairs. Breakfast is a quick, but loud affair, because both the kids and Koutarou are excited about the upcoming holiday. They’ve been on holidays, but they’ve never done road trips before. They’re going to Shirahama in Wakayama Prefecture, which is a good ten hours’ drive away from Tokyo, but they’ve decided to visit Mount Fuji and Nagoya on the way there, spending one or two nights at both locations.

After breakfast, Keiji washes the dishes while Koutarou makes some sandwiches for them to munch on in the car. The kids are up in their room, packing up the last of their stuff that they want to bring.

“Do you think they will enjoy it?” Keiji asks, his voice barely above a whisper, but Koutarou hears him nonetheless.

Keiji’s been afraid that they won’t enjoy the trip as much as he wants them to. They’ve never really been on a trip this long, but he hopes that they will enjoy the sea.

Koutarou turn to him, and places his hands on Keiji’s hips. “Of course they will. We’ve planned this trip for months now, and we’ve done all that research to make it the best holiday ever. It’s going to be an amazing adventure, for all of us.”

Keiji smiles at him. Koutarou always,  _ always  _ knows what to say to make the doubts and insecurities go away, even when he battles with his own. Koutarou pulls Keiji closer, and kisses him. The kiss can’t last long, however, because there’s an ‘ewww’ coming from the door.

Breaking the kiss, Keiji looks in the direction the sound came from, and he sees Shouyou standing in the door, his nose scrunched in distaste. 

“Shou-chan, are you finished with packing?” Koutarou asks him, and Shouyou nods in response. “Okay, then bring your bag to the genkan so we can pack it into the car,” Koutarou instructs him, and Shouyou runs back to their shared room.

In half an hour, they’re all ready to go. Keiji checks everything again, just in case he forgot something, then locks the door. They asked Konoha to watch Ren while they’re away, and he was happy to dogsit. 

Koutarou lifts the enormous suitcase into the trunk of the car while Keiji ushers Kei and Shouyou into the car. Soon, Koutarou hops into the driver’s seat, and turns around.

“Are ya ready kids?” he asks in a raspy voice, bending his index finger, so it’d resemble a pirate’s hand.

“Aye aye captain!” The children shout in unison, and then Koutarou pulls out of their driveway. 

And so, their week long vacation begins.

In the first hour, the kids are fairly quiet, playing who can spot more red cars. So far, Shouyou is winning. They get bored of it, however, and now they’re asking when are they going to get there every five minutes.

“Papa, are we there yet?”

“No, Shou-chan, not yet.”

For the next five minutes, only the hum of car and the radio playing songs softly in the background can be heard.

“Dad, are we there yet?”

“No, Kei-chan. There’s still some time left before we arrive.”

Then silence again. It has been weirdly a long time since either of the kids talked, so Keiji turns around to check on them. They’re both leaning towards each other, and whispering about something, with mischievous smiles on their faces. When they notice Keiji watching, they spring apart, as if they were burned. 

Soon, Keiji finds out what all that secret whispering was about, because both kids start asking “Are we there yet?” in various versions, every minute. They snicker and continue this for another twenty minutes. Without any breaks.

Keiji can see Koutarou starting to lose his patience. He’s patient, but even he has his limits.

“Guys, please quiet down, we’ll be there soon,” he tries to placate them, but it falls on deaf ears.

“Boys, we said stop,” Koutarou snaps, and they snap their mouths shut so hard, Keiji can almost hear their teeth clinking together. 

Koutarou is more patient than Keiji, and when he has to argue with the kids, he does it in a soft, reasoning voice. That’s why whenever he snaps, his words have impact. Keiji is more prone to lose his patience and to raise his voice. People usually think the roles are swapped, but that’s not true, because Koutarou has the patience of a saint. 

In half an hour, they arrive to Fujiyoshida, a city at the base of the mountain. It’s looming above them with its impressive height, and the kids gasp when they see it. They park the car near the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, which marks the beginning of the Yoshidaguchi trail that leads up to the summit of the mountain.

The shrine is beautiful, and its  _ torii  _ gate towers over them with its imposing red columns. 

Keiji is having a field day. As an architect, he loves looking at old buildings, to see the personality of an architect gone long ago. To Keiji, every building tells a story, it shows the personality of its architect, the feelings the artist tried to convey with every curve of the roof and every room and every wall.

A couple years ago – Keiji thinks it’s nearing ten years soon – they went on a road trip to Europe with a fully packed backpack each, and trekked all around Italy, Hungary, France, and England. They visited castles and temples and ancient buildings and Keiji loved every minute of it. It was after Keiji’s graduation from university, just two months of traveling without any communication back home. Kuroo and Oikawa were… pissed to say the least when they came back home engaged. It was a whim on Keiji’s end, but they’d been together for years then and he felt it fitting.

The building itself is not big and anything fancy, but Keiji loves the feeling of calm washing over him. Shrines always had a calming effect on Keiji, the air around it serene and comforting. 

“Papa, Papa, look! It’s so pretty!” Shouyou crows, and Keiji laughs at him. 

Both Shouyou and Kei look around in wonder, never having visited a shrine so popular and big. Back home, they always go to the small one near the park. It’s not crowded on New Year’s day, and it’s always been their thing to go together.

After looking around, they hike up to the first station, where they ride up to the fifth station. The view is amazing even from here, the cities at the foot of the giant mountain look sparkling from up here in the clear weather.

They start the trek up the mountain, and surprisingly the kids are taking the steep trek up very well, without any complaints. Keiji was sure that they’d have to turn around because both Kei and Shouyou would tire quickly. 

Luckily, neither of them start complaining about the climb, they’re chattering excitedly in front of Keiji, while Koutarou leads their little family at the front. Some snippets of their conversation, that the wind carries to Keiji, hits his ears. 

“We gotta reach the top so we can save the country! We can’t let the Huns break through!”

Ah. That answers all of Keiji’s questions of how the boys can take this climb so well. He would’ve never thought though that Mulan would have such a big impact on the boys. 

The rest of the climb to the summit flies by, filled with light chatter and occasional stops for snacks and rest. When they arrive to the top, the sight that lies before them is breathtaking. The vast land unfolding before them, hills and fields as far as their eyes can see. The lake not so far from the mountain is glittering in the sun, its surface smooth like glass.

“Dad, look how high we are! It’s amazing.” Kei says, wonder in his eyes. 

Koutarou smiles at him softly. “We’re more than 3000 meters above sea level.”

“Woah,” the kids say in unison, and Keiji himself has to smile too.

Once the trip down is over, Shouyou and Kei are basically asleep on their feet. Koutarou and he take pity on them, and let them climb onto their back for the rest of way to the car. They gently put them into the seats, and fasten the seatbelts. The drive to the hotel they’re staying at is short, and filled with silence. They don’t want to wake the kids, they’re exhausted, but once they arrive, they have to wake them, they can’t take both the kids and the luggage in. 

When they do arrive, they check in, and after a quick dinner, they turn in for the night. After all, they’re heading off to Nagoya tomorrow.

They arrive to Nagoya at almost one in the afternoon, so they decide to have lunch before going to visit the castle. They decide to try out food that’s specific for this area. Shouyou and Kei share a plate of  _ miso katsu,  _ Koutarou tries  _ hitsumabushi  _ while Keiji eats  _ kishimen. _ By the time they all clean off their plates, they’re stuffed. 

Koutarou stretches, and looks at the kids with enthusiasm clear in his eyes. “So, who’s ready to explore the Nagoya Castle?”

Shouyou and Kei groan in unison. “But Daaaad,” Kei says, “we just ate a whole lot of food, you can’t expect us to move!”

Keiji chuckles, and he gets a sharp look for it from Shouyou. “But don’t you want to see the palace?”

“Are there gonna be samurai?” Shouyou says, sitting straighter on his chair.

“Probably,” Keiji hums, his voice low and mysterious. “But you know, you can’t see them unless we actually go there.”

“Then we have to leave right now! We have to have a lot of time to find them!” Shouyou yells, springing up from his seat before any of them could react.

It gets the attention of the other customers inside the restaurant, Keiji looking around and bowing in apology. Meanwhile, Shouyou already dragged Kei out of his seat, and Koutarou is trying to herd them back to their table. Keiji shouldn’t be surprised after all this time by how fast Shouyou can actually move, but he is. 

Keiji looks at Koutarou. “Go get them to the car, I’ll finish up here,” he says, and Koutarou nods.

After paying, Keiji heads to the car himself, where the kids are already in their seats, eagerly waiting for him to come back.

* * *

and now for the rest of the ideas i had for this au:

character sheets:

| 

Shouyou

| 

Kei

| 

Keiji

| 

Koutarou

| 

Kuroo

| 

Kenma

| 

Oikawa  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
nicknames

| 

Shou-chan

| 

Kei-chan

| 

Papa, Keiji

| 

Dad, Kou

| 

Tetsu, Tetsu-nii

| 

Kenma

| 

Tooru, Tooru-nii  
  
age (first chap)

| 

4

| 

4

| 

28

| 

29

| 

29

| 

28

| 

29  
  
Age 2nd chap

| 

7

| 

7

| 

31

| 

32

| 

32

| 

31

| 

32  
  
occupation

| 

nekoma

| 

fukurodani

| 

architect working from

home 

| 

chef

| 

vet

| 

game developer

| 

journalist  
  
| 

ticklish, sweet tooth

| 

really focused on things

| 

can't cook

| 

sweet tooth enabler

| 

| 

|   
  
| 

| 

| 

overthinking and

overprotective

| 

allergic to cats

| 

| 

|   
  
  * Tsukki teasing Hinata about his height
  * Bokuto reading bedtime stories with dinos in it to Tsukki
  * Hinata braiding Kenma's hair: "Do you like it Uncle Kenma?" "I love it"
  * everyone thinking Akaashi is the stern parent
  * Hinata loves being picked up and playing with Bokuto's hair, he begs Tsukki to play tag all day long and he's impossible to get inside the house no matter the weather
  * Akaashi cries the first day they drop them off at the daycare, Bokuto comforts him
  * Hinata and Tsukki putting stickers on a sleeping Akaashi's face, drawing on walls and Akaashi just sighing and getting the cleaning supplies because this happened last week too
  * if one of the kids refuse to eat something, the other will follow and Akaashi has to beg them to get them to eat it
  * yearly vacations to foreign countries, Akaashi babbling on about architecture and the kids are like "Papa pls stop", they usually get lost because of Bokuto
  * for high school, Tsukki ends up going to Fukurodani and Hinata to Nekoma, for every match they play against each other they make a bet on a week's worth of housework
  * Tsukki haunting the boys that make fun of Hinata like "You do know that that shrimpy can beat you in no time right? Oh and he's my brother and if I hear another bad comment about him from you... well let's just say it won't end well for you"
  * Konoha babysits them too when they're smaller, he always complains but it's halfhearted because he loves them a lot
  * Epilogue would have taken place at Hinata and Tsukki's college graduation, the last lines would've been:



Kei turns to Shouyou, his eyes a little misty. "Even though you're really hard to calm down and annoy me to no end, I can't imagine a life without you, Shou-chan."

Hearing the old nickname again, Shouyou crashes into Kei and hugs him tightly. "Me either, Kei-chan."

**Author's Note:**

> hey so this has been in my drafts for two years now, and I'll be honest, I don't think I'll ever continue this. I had another chapter for this started, but I never finished it and probably never will, because I fell out of the haikyuu fandom. I still like it, but I'm not active in it anymore. If you want me to, I can upload that unfinished chapter and some of my other ideas for this fic because I still have that if you're curious what I had planned for this originally. It's up to you. You can also ask for it on my twitter (@kashuumitsus), just hmu in the dms. I'm not sure that this is the last hq fic I'll ever upload bc I do have another wip that I should really finish, so maybe this isn't goodbye to the hq fandom just yet.
> 
> anyways, thank you so much for reading this, and if you liked it, kudos and comments are very much appreciated<3


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